Bengal govt moves Supreme Court over termination of 24,000 jobs by Calcutta HC

The West Bengal state government moved the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court’s order on Monday that scrapped the appointments of 24,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools. The Bengal government that the arbitrary cancellation of appointments was based on oral submissions and in the absence of any affidavit on record. 

The government alleged that the high court cancelled the entire selection process with immediate effect without giving sufficient time to the government to deal with the issue or make any necessary arrangements. 

The Mamata Banerjee-led government questioned the court’s orders for a fresh selection process within a fortnight of the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results.

"Schedule of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 prescribes that the appropriate government is bound to maintain the Student to Teacher ratio of 40:1 at the elementary level. As a standard practice, the same ratio is also maintained by the State at the Secondary level," the state government's plea read.

The plea further stated that the High Court has failed to appreciate that it is bound to maintain such a student-to-teacher ratio for effective impairment of knowledge. The West Bengal government, in its plea, clarified that even the investigation by the CBI did not have anything.

It argued that the CBI scrutiny does not indicate that the entire process was tainted and hence, all the appointments are irregular. "In fact, the High Court proceeds on the premise that further scrutiny of the selection might reveal more irregularities, which is purely based on conjecture and surmises and not supported by any cogent material on record," it stated.

CALCUTTA HC CANCELS 24,000 JOBS

The Calcutta High Court on Monday declared all appointments made through the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as 'null and void'. The court ordered the cancellation of 24,000 appointments. 

Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi, who were part of the division bench, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to further investigate the appointment process. The CBI has been given three months to submit a report. The SLST-2016 saw over 23 lakh candidates vying for 24,640 vacant posts.

The CBI had earlier arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and some functionaries, who held positions in SSC when the alleged scam took place.